Home of the Newman family whose daughter Natasha has been diagnosedwith swine flu

Friday July 31,2009By Jo Willey Health Correspondent

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ALMOST half of all swine flu deaths are among healthy people or thosewith only mild or moderate health conditions, it emerged yesterday.

New figures show 45 per cent of people who have died from the diseasehad not been considered seriously ill before catching the disease andthat 15 per cent of those were completely healthy.

So far, the virus has killed 27 people in England and four inScotland. The number of patients being treated in hospital has droppedto 793 from 840 a week earlier. However, at least 110,000 new caseswere confirmed in England last week – a 10 per cent increase.

Meanwhile, British schoolgirl Natasha Newman, 16, from London, remainson a life support machine in Athens after suffering lung damage causedby the illness while on a family holiday in Greece.